Facing a daunting task of making accommodation arrangements for the huge number of invitees visiting the upcoming Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit (VGGIS) that follows the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) next month, Gujarat government has started roping in the help of several real estate developers on the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar (S-G) Highway. At the same time, the government is also going to hire 20 chartered flights for the movement of VIP invitees to and from Ahmedabad for the summit.

The government has already roped in three such real estate developers on the S-G Highway where invitees of ‘C’ and ‘D’ categories are likely to be accommodated during the seventh edition of VGGIS. These real estate schemes include Godrej Garden City, Ganesh Housing, and Shantigram of Adani on the S-G Highway.

”Accommodation of the invitees is a huge problem for us. We don’t have enough star hotels in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar to accommodate the invitees for the summit. So now, it has been decided to rope in real estate players for the accommodation of invitees of ‘C’ and ‘D’ category,” said top government sources.

Sources added that the government is going to hire 100 luxury buses for the transport of these invitees to and from the venue, Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar.

Earlier, a top state minister had told The Indian Express that the issue of accommodating invitees for the VGGIS and PBD was very challenging. “All the visiting guests demand suits for them in hotels. And it is very difficult to meet their demands as we don’t have enough suits in the hotels to accommodate the huge number of top industrialists and dignitaries,” the minister had said.

The VGGIS is scheduled on January 11-13. Whereas, the PBD Celebration – to mark the 100 years of Mahatma Gandhi’s return from South Africa to India – is scheduled on January 7-9. PBD is organised by the Central Government’s Ministry of External Affairs and Gujarat is the partner state for the event this year.

To address the issue of providing quality accommodation to the invitees during the summit, Gujarat Government had also coined the concept of homestay for the NRIs who will be visiting the state for PBD celebration. Though, since the government has started to rope-in real estate players for the accommodation need, it seems the homestay concept has not clicked.

Meanwhile, Gujarat Government’s estimated budget for the VGGIS is likely to reach whopping Rs 75 crore. Around 5,000 invitees are likely to attend the summit that includes some top international leaders like Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, and former president of United States Bill Clinton apart from captains of top industries in India and abroad.